[yt-dev] Asking questions on StackOverflow

Mon Nov 18 17:41:50 PST 2013

I agree that we should try this, and now is a good time to make a shift
over to it.  With the move to 3.0, many of the existing "answers" that we
have in our mailing list may go stale (obviously not all of them, but many
of them).  Shifting over to an updatable answer-base will be useful,
particularly one with which so many people are familiar.  +1

Cameron

On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 12:53 PM, Nathan Goldbaum <nathan12343 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Ah, but I see that if we ask someone to add the tag as a comment in the
> question, then a moderator will add it if they think it's appropriate.
>
>
> http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/121339/request-for-new-tag-bold-for-delphi
>
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 11:48 AM, Nathan Goldbaum <nathan12343 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> It looks like we need someone with high (> 1500 reputation) to create the
>> new [yt] tag on StackOverflow.
>>
>> I'll try asking and then immediately answer a few yt questions next
>> weekend and just tag it with [python], [visualization], and
>> [scientific-computing].
>>
>> -Nathan
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 10:46 AM, Britton Smith <brittonsmith at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> This all sounds fine to me.  I'm cool with giving SO a try.  It would
>>> definitely be nice to have stock answers to common questions in a more
>>> easily searchable place.
>>>
>>> If this starts happening, someone please report back here and let others
>>> know what we have to do to get involved.
>>>
>>> Britton
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 3:49 AM, Sam Skillman <samskillman at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>> Okay so I think I've switched my opinion on using scicomp here,
>>>> primarily based on the discussion here:
>>>> http://meta.scicomp.stackexchange.com/questions/338/can-scicomp-stackexchange-be-used-for-project-specific-questions/339#339
>>>>
>>>> The main point is -- if the questions are general in nature, i.e. "what
>>>> would be a good way to visualize/analyze this data in this way" would be
>>>> great, but questions of "i'm having a problem using feature X in frontend
>>>> Y" would not be appropriate. Personally, I can imagine many more very
>>>> yt-specific questions being asked as opposed to big picture, but maybe i'm
>>>> wrong.  I'd say we just start using stack overflow and see how it shakes
>>>> out.
>>>>
>>>> If we're game, I'd say we ask a few planted questions and answer them
>>>> ourselves, and if a question comes up on a mailing list that is answered on
>>>> SO, then point to it.
>>>>
>>>> Sam
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 12:27 PM, Matthew Turk <matthewturk at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Alright, so I guess we're in sort-of agreement?  What's next?  Do we
>>>>> want to just skip the main site, try for SciComp, encourage people
>>>>> (and even ask/answer questions ourselves) and start following the tag?
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 12:17 PM, Sam Skillman <samskillman at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> > I'd be happy to reach out to the sci comp folks. They field
>>>>> questions for a
>>>>> > few other codes so it may be a good fit.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I'm a +1 on trying it out. It also has the added benefit of a rewards
>>>>> > structure.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Sam
>>>>> >
>>>>> > On Nov 17, 2013 11:11 AM, "Nathan Goldbaum" <nathan12343 at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> Didn't realize one needs very high reputation to create a new tag -
>>>>> I
>>>>> >> guess that makes sense though.
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> While fragmentation is bad, I'd argue that StackOverflow's high
>>>>> google
>>>>> >> ranking negates that somewhat.
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> Are there any SO users with high reputations who might be
>>>>> interested in
>>>>> >> creating the tag?
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> Barring that, the scicomp beta exchange is also probably a good fit.
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> On Sunday, November 17, 2013, Matthew Turk wrote:
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>> Hi Nathan,
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>> On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM, Nathan Goldbaum <
>>>>> nathan12343 at gmail.com>
>>>>> >>> wrote:
>>>>> >>> > Hi all,
>>>>> >>> >
>>>>> >>> > I recently subscribed to the [yt] tag on StackExchange.  Now,
>>>>> whenever
>>>>> >>> > a
>>>>> >>> > question is asked using this tag on any StackExchange site, I
>>>>> will get
>>>>> >>> > an
>>>>> >>> > e-mail about it, just like if a question is asked on the users
>>>>> or dev
>>>>> >>> > list.
>>>>> >>> > Currently (as far as I can tell) zero questions have been asked
>>>>> using
>>>>> >>> > this
>>>>> >>> > tag...
>>>>> >>> >
>>>>> >>> > If there are a few others who are interested in subscribing to
>>>>> the tag,
>>>>> >>> > I
>>>>> >>> > think it might be worthwhile to add StackOverflow to the website
>>>>> and
>>>>> >>> > docs
>>>>> >>> > where we describe how to get help and also announce on the
>>>>> user’s list
>>>>> >>> > that
>>>>> >>> > StackOverflow is an alternate place to ask questions.
>>>>> >>> >
>>>>> >>> > While this might split the community somewhat - not everyone
>>>>> will be
>>>>> >>> > subscribed to StackOverflow and thus might miss useful info - I
>>>>> think
>>>>> >>> > moving
>>>>> >>> > some helpful suggestions to StackOverflow will massively improve
>>>>> >>> > googleability of common yt issues, allowing us to avoid
>>>>> answering the
>>>>> >>> > same
>>>>> >>> > questions over and over again.
>>>>> >>> >
>>>>> >>> > It might also be worthwhile to ask and answer some common yt
>>>>> questions.
>>>>> >>> > Off
>>>>> >>> > the top of my head, I think we could at least answer how to load
>>>>> >>> > various
>>>>> >>> > types of datasets into yt.
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>> In principle, I'm okay with this.  But I have a few concerns --
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>> 1) I don't think the tag "yt" can be created unless someone with
>>>>> high
>>>>> >>> reputation does so.  (
>>>>> >>> http://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/create-tags )
>>>>> >>> 2) We have well-defined usage metrics that we can quantify based on
>>>>> >>> mailing list activity, so this may fragment that.
>>>>> >>> 3) Many of the existing contributors and users don't want another
>>>>> inbox.
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>> *However*.  SO is really quite good for evolving questions and for
>>>>> an
>>>>> >>> updateable reference.  I do really like that aspect.  But I think
>>>>> we
>>>>> >>> may find ourselves getting a bit fragmented -- in fact, what I see
>>>>> as
>>>>> >>> being a possible outcome is that if yt does end up growing into an
>>>>> >>> interdisciplinary space, we'd see people from non-Astro disciplines
>>>>> >>> using it, but retaining our original core audience here.  All your
>>>>> >>> points really are good ones.
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>> I don't know.  Could be awesome.  And, I'd like to see us embrace
>>>>> more
>>>>> >>> modern and useful methods of communication and outreach.  So ... I
>>>>> >>> guess the experiment could be a good one!
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>> -Matt
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>> >
>>>>> >>> > -Nathan
>>>>> >>> >
>>>>> >>> > _______________________________________________
>>>>> >>> > yt-dev mailing list
>>>>> >>> > yt-dev at lists.spacepope.org
>>>>> >>> > http://lists.spacepope.org/listinfo.cgi/yt-dev-spacepope.org
>>>>> >>> >
>>>>> >>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> >>> yt-dev at lists.spacepope.org
>>>>> >>> http://lists.spacepope.org/listinfo.cgi/yt-dev-spacepope.org
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> >> http://lists.spacepope.org/listinfo.cgi/yt-dev-spacepope.org
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >
>>>>> > _______________________________________________
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>>>>> > yt-dev at lists.spacepope.org
>>>>> > http://lists.spacepope.org/listinfo.cgi/yt-dev-spacepope.org
>>>>> >
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
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>>
>
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-- 
Cameron Hummels
Postdoctoral Researcher
Steward Observatory
University of Arizona
http://chummels.org
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